LOS ANGELES : Mother Won’t Be Charged in Deaths of 2 Children

Prosecutors Monday declined to file charges against a mother whose two young children died after their toddler brother set a fire in the family’s Maywood apartment while she was out buying milk.

Dist. Atty. spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said Josefina De La Torre, 35, will be released from custody because there is insufficient evidence to hold her for child endangerment or homicide. She was booked on those charges Thursday by Maywood police.

“Basically, the evidence is she woke up, and her children were sleeping and they were without milk, so she ran to the store,” Gibbons said. “The 4-year-old woke up and played with matches . . . and we did not feel this was a case that warranted criminal filing.”

Prosecutor Jack Delavigne said he reviewed police and fire reports and found “in the final analysis, you had an accidental fire started by an unattended juvenile.”